The Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter have been there from the beginning of Warhammer 40,000. Alongside the Dark Angels and Ultramarines they were pretty much most people's first impression of what a Space Marine was. They've gone through a lot of stylistic changes over the year - the coloured helmets came about in the 90s, they went from bright red, to terracota to orange back to red and they're still around - now with added Primaris Marines and a brand new Codex. The Codex itself comes in two flavours, Nosferatu's Posing Pouch Collector's Edition and the standard. Unlike the Imperial Guard, there's at least some new minis in this release - a Blood Angels Primaris Lieutenantand the new Blood Angels Upgrade set for Primaris Marines. There are some reboxings with Blood Angels Upgrade Sets in them - Hellblasters, Intercessors and Aggressors. As is the way, the promise of Blood Angels dice was awesome - the reality is somewhat disappointing, with blood drops instead of numbers - that's not going to get annoying - and of course the Data Cards, which could disappear quite quickly!-Meanwhile, in books, Warmasterstarring everyone's favourite Gaunt's Ghost leader who also appears in The Founding, a Gaunt's Ghost Omnibus which collects the first trilogy. Meanwhile, a very cool book (which should probably come out next week) is Angels of Caliban, which centres around the Primarch of the Dark Angels and hopefully shows him for the total idiot he is.

Now there are also a bunch of Blood Bowl and Hobbit releases next week - so check them out below too!

It's been a bloody long time coming - but finally we get the Elves Blood Bowl team, theElfheim Eaglesplus thier themed team dice Now even though this is a relief, initially we were told this was going ot be the first chance to see the look of the new combined Elven forces - Dark Elf, Wood Elf, High Elf and Christmas Elf, but we're not seeing that in these mins, they just look like generic pointy eared dudes and dudettes! Bit of a shame. There's also three new pitches, the Elven Union, Goblin and Blood on the Snow. The week that Chapter Approved is released, we now get the Blood Bowl Almanac, compiling together Death Zone Seasons 1 and 2, with the White Dwarf content, some new optional rules and all-star team stats. This seems like a great book for any Blood Bowl player and great to see it being brought out!! There's also three new Team Card Packs, Human, Elven Union and Orc.plus the Card Sleeves to keep them safe and warm and happy, even in the off-season.

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In a time before 40k, there was a band of men and women who took part in gaming without the corporate sensibilities of today. Take a step back with us and also look upon the future through wizened eyes and curious ponderings of The Beardy Hammer!